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THE INNER LIFE OF AN INN 

Bring « TRUE STORY of an INN aw Vmw CoU*^ 
Ru MARY SWAIN WAGNER 




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THE 
INNER LIFE OF AN INN 



Being a True Story of an Inn 
near Vassar College 



BY 

MARY SWAIN WAGNER 



Sketches by M. S. W. 



THE SELKIRK GRACE 

Some hae meat, and canna eat. 
And some wad eat that want it ; 

But we hae meat and we can eat, 
And sae the Lord be thanket. 

— Robert Burns. 



A. V. HAIGHT CO. 

POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK 

September, 1919 



TX14I 

.W3W£ 



Copyright, 1919 
By MARY SWAIN WAGNER 



ULl 20 1919 



A53 64'.!2 



| 



TO 

My Spirit Mother, 

MARY SAVAGE WAGNER, 

WHOSE MEMORY IS EVER DEAR, AND WHOSE 

LOVING PRESENCE HAS ILLUMINED 

MY DARKEST HOURS. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. The Long Felt Want 7 

II. College Traditions 11 

III. Great Minds Move in the Same Channel . . .15 

IV. Air — the Stuff the Inn was Made of 17 

V. Procrastination — the Thief of the Cash-register . . 22 

VI. Oh, for the Knowledge of a Civil Engineer! ... 26 

VII. The Inn a Social Center 31 

VIII. The Inn a Public Benefit 34 

IX. The Long Felt want becomes a Matter of Course . 38 

X. Miss Lapham Marries 40 

XI. I Write my Thesis 41 

XII. Slamming the Door on Opportunity 43 

XIII. Faith as a Working Capital 44 

XIV. The Crisis 47 

XV. The Trustee Rifles the Cash-register 52 

XVI. The Inn Changes its Name 57 

XVII. Help! Help! Help! 59 

XVIII. The Colored Man a Hero at the Range .... 62 

XIX. Two Coons Look Alike to Me 69 

XX. Tell You Why 71 

XXI. When the Snow is Green 72 

XXII. Miss Lynch— A Stand-by 74 

XXIII. The Inn a Training School 76 

XXIV. Has the Inn been a Success? 79 

XXV. The Inn Given to Overfeeding 81 

XXVI. We Learn how to handle the Crowds 85 

XXVII. Holidays at the Inn 87 

XXVIII. Success a Comparative Term 98 

XXIX. Do I Advise Women to go into Business? . . . 100 

XXX. Faith a Miracle Worker 105 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

1. The Inn, as it was in the Beginning, by M.S.W. Inside Cover 

2. The Wagner Inn, (photograph) A 

3. Appreciation as a Variable Quantity (X), by M.S.W. . 9 

4. What is sure to come True, by M.S.W 13 

5. Our Money Coffers and Safe-deposit Vaults in the Early 

Days, by M.S.W 19 

6. Dry-Cleaning, by M.S.W 27 

7. The Inn in 1902, (photograph) B 

8. Emblem of the City of Poughkeepsie, by M.S.W. . . 51 

9. Porch, (photograph) C 

10. The Dining Room, (photograph) D 

11. Page Decoration, Reminiscences, by M.S.W. . . 87 

Inserts and Hallowe'en Menu decorations taken from 
the original menu, by the publisher. 



THE LONG FELT WANT 

"This Inn certainly fills a long felt want!" 
Emphasize 1-o-n-g with a forty year drawl as if 
to indicate the duration of the want and you will 
have some idea of the gratitude expressed by 
the alumnae of Vassar College when they re- 
turned to visit their Alma Mater and discovered 
that an Inn had finally been opened for their 
accommodation. The longer they had been out 
of College and the more frequently they had re- 
turned, the more they realized the need of a hotel 
near the campus ; or stated mathematically and 
concretely, the degree of appreciation felt by 
different individuals may be said to have varied 
inversely as the chronological order of gradua- 
tion, and directly as the square of the number 
of visits since that time marking epoch. 

It was in the fall of 1902, that my partner, 
Miss Anne Edith Lapham, and I began to prac- 
tice the hotel business in the vicinity of Vassar 
College; perhaps I should say raa/-practice for 
our efforts were quite on a par with the experi- 
ences of those who start on a career in law, medi- 
cine, or pedagogy. Even though our mistakes 
were not so damnably serious as hanging an in- 
nocent man, cutting out a perfectly healthy ap- 
pendix, or muddling the brains of a promising 
child, there were times when the affairs at the 



Inn took on the color of high tragedy. Salty 
ice-cream was sometimes served although it 
was not listed on the menu, or there was a dearth 
of sugar or baking-powder in the cake when 
there was no such lack in the market, or a steak 
burned to the consistency of shoe leather failed 
to satisfy an order for a "tenderloin — thick and 
rare." 

It was not until we were fairly started that 
our most critical spectators began to see how 
desirable it was to have an inn near Vassar Col- 
lege ; the better we did it, the more they realized 
the need, and the worse we did it, the more they 
realized the want. Some of our college friends 
had kindly and delicately hinted that a course 
in domestic science might be a helpful prepara- 
tion for carrying on the work we were about to 
undertake. It is true that a more extensive 
knowledge of the culinary arts might have al- 
leviated some of our troubles; a study of food 
values might have aided us in planning well 
balanced menus, had it been possible to balance 
calories for girls who order such combinations 
as strawberry-ice and Saratoga potatoes for 
breakfast. 

Our most glaring faults were really the result 
of an intense preoccupation with problems that 
seemed at the time to have no bearing whatso- 
ever upon the truly domestic side of the voca- 
tion we had chosen. What we needed most of 
all was not a course in domestic science, but a 
thorough knowledge of student psychology, 
high finance, and civil engineering. A course 




APPRECIATION AS A VARIABLE QUANTITY (x) 



^W- . 



in student psychology might have prepared us 
to meet the peculiar appetites and expectations 
of college girls ; an apprenticeship on Wall Street 
might have taught us the art of paying bills 
with signed meal orders; an understanding of 
civil engineering might have revealed to us that 
water is just as essential to an inn stranded in 
the country as it is to a ship at sea. With the 
fortification of such knowledge our problems 
would have been met with less consternation, 
and we hope, with fewer calamities. 

Our ignorance, however, proved to be our 
greatest asset, for had we anticipated the de- 
mands that were to be made upon us by a cul- 
tured but exacting public, had we dreamed of 
the financial responsibilities we should be ob- 
liged to assume, had we suspected that the busi- 
ness could fluctuate from a Wednesday zero to 
a Sunday infinitude, we would never have had 
the courage to attempt the tremendous task of 
filling that long felt want. But being entirely 
ignorant of our ignorance, we went cheerfully 
into an enterprise which soon grew to such pro- 
portions as to outstrip our greatest expectations, 
and which set us such a pace that run as we 
might we could scarcely keep abreast with the 
new time which we ourselves had ushered into 
College history. 



10 



II 



COLLEGE TRADITIONS 

We had no one but ourselves to blame, how- 
ever, for any of the trials or hardships that we 
encountered, for we had received but little en- 
couragement from the faculty and student body 
in promoting the Inn. The faculty feared that 
the girls might be tempted to indulge unwisely 
in sweets and dainties prepared for them so close 
at hand; the upper classmen seemed quite con- 
tent with things as they were; the College had 
managed all these years without a hotel, it could 
continue as in the past. The girls had been in 
the habit of going to Poughkeepsie where they 
patronized Smith Brothers' Restaurant, the 
home of the famous S. B. Cough Drops, and they 
rather enjoyed the lark of a trip to town. More- 
over, when they did not have time to go to the 
city, there were certain cottages in Arlington 
where they could always call for any dainty 
they especially craved. 

As for guests who wished to stay all night 
there were several cottages, notably Mrs. Sarah 
Smith's, where a room could be had for a sur- 
prisingly small sum. Mrs. Smith was a woman 
of many accomplishments being first of all an 
artist of no little ability in doing up fancy wash 
waists and dresses; on entering her parlor one 
would find a wonderful display of laundry work, 



11 



beautiful waists pinned to the window curtains 
from ceiling to sill, while dresses which might 
have stood alone hung from the frames of her 
ancestors. One could easily recognize Profes- 
sor Salmon's dress of white roses, every petal 
distinct, like flowers in bloom. There might be 
a blue organdie that looked as if Miss Underhill 
were about to appear; or a lavender waist sug- 
gesting Miss Leach. Surely this was high art 
indeed, and the best part of it all was that Sarah 
Smith loved her work with the passion of one 
who finds expression in the use of pencil or brush. 

Besides being an artist Mrs. Smith could tell 
fortunes with cards and tea leaves that were 
sure to come true; she could hit the past with 
such accuracy that one was forced to believe in 
the future as she saw it depicted in the tea-cup ; 
every freshman was assured of a brilliant college 
career and every senior would find a handsome 
lover waiting for her at the lodge the day she 
received her diploma, and the hopes of every 
doting mother would not only be realized but 
far exceeded by the conjuring of some kind fate. 

And so you see it was not without many senti- 
mental misgivings that we started what seemed 
to be a direct competition with some of the Col- 
lege traditions that we too loved best; for had 
not we in our day banqueted at Smith Brothers', 
coaxed a motherly neighbor for waffles on a lazy 
over-slept morning, and revived our hopes and 
aspirations by shuffling cards or tipping tea- 
cups with Mrs. Sarah Smith? But here was op- 
portunity beckoning to us to come and fill the 



12 




WHAT IS SURE TO COME TRUE 



13 



long felt want and nothing could deter us from 
the venture. 

While the alumnae gave us their hearty appro- 
bation and encouragement by occasional visits, 
the freshmen and I might say the sophomores 
also, proved to be our most regular patrons, for 
being less bound than the upper classmen by 
the traditions of the past, they were more willing 
to welcome a new feature into their college life. 
Their parents also granted us a ready recognition 
by sending in their applications for commence- 
ment rooms two, three, and four years in ad- 
vance. 




14 



Ill 

GREAT MINDS MOVE IN THE 
SAME CHANNEL 

As great discoveries or inventions are some- 
times revealed simultaneously to two people at 
different ends of the earth, so the idea of opening 
a tea-room near Vassar College, came like an 
inspiration to both Miss Lapham and me, who 
were complete strangers, at about the same 
time. In the spring of 1902, Miss Lapham came 
to Poughkeepsie in search of a suitable location 
for a tea-room, only to find the building of the 
Inn already well underway. This was quite an 
unpleasant shock to her and for a time she did 
not know whether to continue with her plans or 
to withdraw entirely; after due consideration 
she gave up all thought of rivalry and decided 
to unite her fortunes (+A) with mine ( — B) ; co- 
operation seemed better than competition, 
especially as we both desired companionship in 
the work, and fortunately found each other 
most congenial. Our optimism in regard to our 
respective abilities to open and conduct an inn 
was quite pardonable when one considers that 
Miss Lapham was comparatively fresh from 
College (class of 1896) and quite familiar with 
the needs of the community; while I, besides 
having worked my way through an academic 






15 



course,* had added ten years of teaching to my 
life's experience; moreover, five of those years 
had been spent in the Central High School of 
Minneapolis, teaching mathematics and science ; 
pray, what better preparation could be desired 
by two unsophisticated young women for run- 
ning a first class hotel? Had it not been for the 
leniency of our patrons, the good fellowship of 
the College girls, and the lack of competition, 
it is doubtful if we could have "put it over" as 
we did on an unsuspecting public. 

*Two years at Vassar, 1891-1893; two years at the University of 
Minnesota, receiving B. S. degree in 1897. 




16 



IV 

AIR— THE STUFF THE INN 
WAS MADE OF 

The lot on which the Inn stands was purchased 
in 1901 through the agency of Mr. Harry C. 
Barker who was at that time just beginning his 
law practice in Poughkeepsie, and being a young 
man with a vision he too saw the possibilities of 
an Inn near Vassar College. When I paid him 
the first twenty-five dollars to bind the bargain 
and insisted upon dictating the contract myself 
so that there could be no possible chance of my 
losing even that small sum in case of failure to 
meet the future payments promptly, he became 
so interested in the project that he immediately 
began negotiations for a loan which was to be 
secured by a first mortgage on the property. He 
also made arrangements with the contractors 
to accept my notes for any expenses that could 
not be covered by the amount of the mortgage. 
This all seemed very easy and I felt absolutely 
no hesitation in assuming an indebtedness for 
many thousands of dollars, so strong was my 
faith in the enterprise, and so undaunted my 
courage. 

Mr. Percival Lloyd, an architect of more than 
local fame, was also most enthusiastic in promot- 
ing the Inn, and was untiring in his efforts to 
present a plan that would not only meet with the 



17 



business requirements, but which would at the 
same time, satisfy the aesthetic tastes of our 
most fastidious patrons. Mr. Lloyd was a most 
liberal architect for he actually allowed me to 
have a few ideas of my own which he accepted 
and used as fundamentals in constructing the 
building. 

Of course one would not think of starting such 
an enterprise without any money at all; I had 
as much as three or four hundred dollars for a 
working capital, but by a strange coincidence 
my bank account was soon doubled. I had 
been spending the winter in the west while wait- 
ing for my plans to mature, and when returning 
to Poughkeepsie in the early spring, the New 
York Central train on which I had engaged 
accommodations, became side tracked near 
Buffalo, where with a few others I was stranded 
without food for about twelve hours in a cold 
sleeping-car. This exposure made me quite ill, 
although if I had known that the experience was 
to replenish my bank account I should no doubt 
have been able to maintain the best of spirits 
and good health, which all goes to show how 
paradoxical is the philosophy that one should 
not worry or get sick over seeming misfortunes. 
Mr. Barker took up the matter with the attorney 
for the New York Central Railway, who showed 
a willingness to make a settlement that would 
compensate me in part at least, for what I had 
suffered on account of the negligence of their 
trainmen, and accordingly sent me a check for 
three hundred dollars. 



is 







OUR MONEY COFFERS AND SAFE-DEPOSIT 
VAULTS IN THE EARLY DAYS 



19 



Thus from the beginning, from the germinat- 
ing of the idea, the materialization of the Inn 
was constantly furthered by a kind Providence, 
and in later years when financial failure threat- 
ened, something always happened to ward off 
the calamity. It was no accident but a real 
miracle that brought Miss Lapham to me just 
as the Inn was nearing completion; it was time 
to buy tables and chairs and dishes, beds and 
rugs and draperies; my credit was good but my 
bank account was nil; moreover, to select these 
articles by oneself seemed unnatural and unin- 
teresting. Miss Lapham with her boundless 
enthusiasm, efficiency and good taste, gave a 
new impetus to the enterprise; her cheer and 
vivacity afforded a delightful companionship 
that completely revived my waning faith; be- 
sides, her substantial contribution to the finan- 
cial account, or should I say deficit, gave assur- 
ance that the Inn would be ready for business 
when the College opened in September. 

A greater outlay of money than we had anti- 
cipated, was required to make the Inn attractive, 
and to give it that air which has been com- 
mented upon so frequently; but, you may ask, 
how could it help having an air when that was 
the stuff it was made of? It was not long be- 
fore our combined fortunes, A+( — B)= — C, 
came to the tragic condition which might be 
more appropriately expressed by the formula 
A — B= — X, or as we felt, by minus infinity; 
but why worry? College would soon open and 
money would come pouring into our coffers (a 



20 



desk drawer without a lock) and our negative 
bank account would shortly be balanced by the 
positive sign of prosperity. Alas, little did we 
know the propensities of college girls. 




21 



PROCRASTINATION IS THE THIEF 
OF— THE CASH-REGISTER 

As I look back upon those first few weeks 
when we tried to make ends meet, it seems sur- 
prising that the financial difficulties did not 
throw us entirely out of poise and bring our busi- 
ness to an abrupt and premature end; every 
night after cashing up, or rather charging up, we 
sat and looked at each other in consternation, 
gasping — ten dollars cash, twenty-five dollars 
charged, or fifty dollars cash, one hundred dol- 
lars charged. What were we coming to and how 
would it end? The accounts piled up so rapidly 
that at the expiration of a few weeks we found 
there were four or five hundred dollars standing 
on our books, a sum that would have made a 
neat little deposit upon our indebtedness. We 
knew that the girls would eventually be "good 
pay," but meanwhile this did not help us to solve 
our immediate problems of grocery bills, and 
wages, for standing accounts seemed only to 
accelerate the running expenses. 

At that time the Inn was little more than a 
tea-room and scarcely deserved its dignified 
title; there were only six bed-rooms and as my 
partner and I were supposed to occupy at least 
one of these rooms, there were only five that 
could be scheduled for public use. So urgent 



22 



was the call for money however, it was only at 
dull times that we could enjoy the luxury of a 
bed-room; it is hardly true to say that we en- 
joyed it even then, for when business was poor 
we worried ourselves into such a condition of 
insomnia that it mattered little where we spent 
the night; while if we were fortunate enough to 
be busy we were usually so happily tired that we 
could sleep almost "any old place", and the 
thought of a few extra dollars frequently found 
us sweetly dreaming in the most unexpected 
corners ; we would gladly have taken to the roof 
if the style of architecture had not forbid. 
Many a night I slept in the linen closet which 
was barely large enough to hold a cot; though 
the ventilation was poor even with the door open, 
I slept the sleep of the ambitious and awoke in 
the morning refreshed and ready for action, feel- 
ing exhilerated by the thought that I had taken 
an easy way of earning the price of a room, and 
that was no mean sum in those days for we had 
set our standards high and charged accordingly, 
asking as much as a dollar and a half for Number 
I, and a dollar per night for the smaller rooms, 
thereby outraging all former customs of the 
neighborhood. Thank heaven, our guests usu- 
ally paid cash so that the sacrifice of a bed on 
our part was doubly rewarded, cash being our 
greatest need. 

It was the vision of a cash business that had 
led us on, but now that this lure began to fade 
into a mass of mystical figures, we wondered 
how we were to proceed, for while we sincerely 



23 



desired to be accommodating we were deeply 
chagrined at our limitations. We did not have 
the courage to refuse credit to our patrons, and if 
we had tried to do so it would have been a death 
blow to the Inn, for College boys and girls the 
world over are treated with greater leniency in 
money matters than any other class of people, 
and this is quite right for it would be impossible 
to find any other group who in the long run 
(emphasize long once more) are so punctiliously 
honest in all their dealings. 

Procrastination is a fault that seems to pre- 
vail among the young, especially those who are 
subject to educational influences; it is the kind 
of fault that cannot be easily eradicated or iso- 
lated, for procrastination in one begets it in an- 
other ; it is contagious and spreads like the Liber- 
ty measles, a disease which seems mild but is 
always irritating and often disastrous in its 
effects. We too became procrastinators through 
necessity and if it had not been for the fact that 
we also had almost unlimited credit, not even 
its airy construction would have kept the Inn 
afloat. 

In order to overcome this habit of delinquency 
on the part of students, I would suggest that a 
new course of study be introduced into the col- 
lege curriculum; it should be a compulsory and 
not an elective subject, and might be called "The 
Ethics of Doing it Now." "Such problems as 
the following should be presented for considera- 
tion: How many signed meal orders running 
for six months, does it take to pay the chef his 



24 



first week's wages? or, If each of a thousand girls 
has her hair shampooed on tick, why is the hair- 
dresser's gas-meter shut off? or again, If a dress- 
maker and her helper make a dress and a half 
in a day and a half, and the bill stands a year 
and a half, why does the dress-maker wear her 
last winter's hat to the Sunday school picnic? 
Such practical questions as these might impress 
upon the young the result of shiftlessness in 
money matters. 

Fortunately for us whenever our own enforced 
procrastination became alarming, there was 
always some kind friend to reach out a lending 
hand and rescue us from a complete cessation 
of Inn -activities by the offer of a small loan. A 
noted member of the faculty who had always 
expressed herself as being seriously opposed to 
the loose credit system among college students, 
helped us out of our first distress; one or two 
others who became interested in the enterprise 
and thought our efforts worthy of encouragement 
came to our assistance later by extending to us 
the use of small loans; neither did Mr. Barker 
fail us during these early years when a crisis 
seemed impending. 



25 



VI 

OH, FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF A 
CIVIL ENGINEER! 

Besides the distractions of high finance there 
were endless tragedies connected with the purely 
mechanical problems of the Inn; as said before 
a knowledge of civil engineering would have 
been of inestimable value in securing a practical 
working equipment at the beginning of our 
career, for it would have saved us endless worry 
and expense. We were so imbued with the idea 
of making the Inn attractive to the public eye, 
and it was so necessary to make our money go 
as far as possible, that we sacrificed the utili- 
tarian for the aesthetic as is too frequently the 
case when one's capital is limited. 

As the Inn was located too far beyond the city 
limits to obtain a supply of running water, it was 
necessary to install a local water system of our 
own. The drilling of a deep artesian well seemed 
to offer the whole solution of the problem but 
it was only the beginning. We had been misled 
by our contractors who assured us that a hand 
pump would be sufficient to pump the water 
into a tank located in the attic from which it was 
to be fed to the bath-rooms and the kitchen sinks. 
We were attracted by the cheapness of such a 
pump as compared with others, and unwisely 
submitted to a plan that would scarcely be ade- 



26 




DRY CLEANING 



27 



quate for a pair of newly weds in a private bunga- 
low. The pump might have been all right if we 
had been able to find a man given to perpetual 
motion, but no such person could be found; the 
pumping was so intermittent that sometimes the 
cook would be obliged to go down cellar and give 
a few turns to the pump before he could water 
the soup or make a pot of tea, and we found it 
next to impossible to keep a chef under these 
conditions. Often when the pump man had 
proved to be a slacker on his job, a guest would 
be lolling in the bath-tub waiting for the water 
to splash, or worse still, would come to the office 
in full dress to heap invectives of wrath upon our 
heads for this unaccountable method of dry- 
cleaning. 

It is often more difficult to get rid of a good 
thing than it is to obtain it in the first place ; and 
so with us the problem of securing water was not 
nearly so serious as getting rid of it after it had 
done its work. In testing the various schemes 
for drainage, one after another proved absolutely 
futile and inadequate. The following story 
fully illustrates the state of mind in which a 
woman grapples with such problems. A friend 
called one day and found me weeping bitterly; 
with expressions of deep sympathy she ex- 
claimed, "Why, my dear, what is the matter?" 
Laying my head upon her friendly shoulder, I 

sobbed "The cess-pool is " ; well, we will here 

draw the curtain on this heart rending scene 
and dismiss the subject for it would take too 
much space to tell of all the tragedies that oc- 



28 



curred on account of this very necessary but un- 
interesting problem; sufficient to say that our 
greatest trials in this line naturally happened 
at the busiest and therefore the must inoppor- 
tune times. 

The heating plant presented experiences al- 
most as distressing as the water question, and 
it would be difficult to tell whether most of our 
troubles came from the system employed or 
from neglect on the part of the firemen, for it 
has always seemed almost impossible to find a 
man who had sufficient intelligence, or interest 
in his work, to build a hot fire on a cold day and 
a cool fire on a hot day. We tried cold air fur- 
naces, intermittent steam heat, tepid and hot 
water plants, before we met with any degree of 
success in keeping the house warm during the 
winter months. The cold-air furnace is some- 
times very erroneously alluded to as a hot air 
plant, but why it is called a plant would be hard 
to tell, unless it is because it is so delicate and 
flourishes only in warm weather, or it may be 
because it needs the constant application of 
shovel and rake. It was a fickle thing — this 
air plant — changing its currents with every 
shifting wind ; sometimes it seemed as if we were 
up with it the greater part of the night trying to 
nurture the spark of life in its embers, and coax- 
ing it to send just a little more heat to No. 6, or 
to No. 8, and we never felt sure that the occu- 
pant of the room would not be found gassed in 
the morning. We did not like steam heat any 
better for there was no constancy about it; the 



29 



radiators were either as hot as — steam, or as 
cold as — . The bombarding of the pipes on a 
cold winter's morning was not conducive to 
sweet dreams, and sometimes our guests upset 
us for the whole day by rising before breakfast 
was ready. We finally lit upon a water plant 
which is as superior to an air plant in its relia- 
bility as a water-lily is to an orchid. With a 
man on the job all night during the winter, the 
house is now kept at a very comfortable tem- 
perature. 

Soon after the formation of our partnership, 
a division of labor and responsibility came about 
rather automatically, Miss Lapham keeping to 
the middle of the road by looking after the sup- 
plies and the serving, while I assumed the ex- 
tremes of finance and waste, vibrating with 
studied agility from bills at the front door to 
tin cans at the back. The bills I could usually 
dispose of in one way (cash) or another (bluff), 
but sometimes neither of these appliances availed 
to keep the back yard looking like a city park or 
a public play-ground, for the waste that accumu- 
lates almost instantaneously about a hotel on a 
busy day is a problem that even the times of in- 
tensive Hooverizing could neither solve nor 
eliminate. 



30 



VII 

THE INN A SOCIAL CENTER 

From its first inception the Inn was destined 
to become a place of festivity, but in time as we 
shall see, it proved to be of real practical value 
to the students, to the faculty, and to the neigh- 
borhood. True to our anticipations and our 
mental pictures, the girls came all day long in 
twos and threes for light refreshments; at meal 
times they soon acquired the habit of dining at 
the Inn with chosen friends, when they felt un- 
usually weary, or when they wished to avoid 
the noise and confusion of the College dining- 
room. Special menus were offered for dinner 
parties ordered in advance, so that a visiting 
mother or father was soon educated to do the 
correct thing by providing a banquet for daugh- 
ter and her friends. 

The Mahogany Table was almost our first 
purchase at Luckey, Piatt & Co.'s store ; it 
was an extension table with a highly polished 
top and looked very attractive when set with 
doilies and flowers and candles. It was soon in 
great demand and reservations were often made 
some time in advance. Whoever happened to 
be the hostess was known for that hour of serv- 
ing as "Miss Mahogany"; the waiters adopted 
this name as a matter of convenience probably ; 
it was easier than learning a new name every 



31 



day ; they would say, What does Miss Mahogany 
have to night? What is Miss Mahogany's next 
course? The poor old mahogany table has done 
good service during the last seventeen years — 
it is time it had a new shine. 

Even with our limited knowledge of student 
psychology we soon discovered that regular 
meals would not do for the College trade; regu- 
larity was the one thing that the girls hoped to 
avoid for they knew the Vassar bill of fare so 
well they could predict to a minute when they 
would again have tomb-stone pudding or coffee 
ice-cream. So we adopted a simple menu that 
could be served to order at any time of day or 
evening. Our only table d'hote meal was the 
Sunday chicken dinner which proved to be but 
little less popular than our special Sunday night 
dishes. It was not particularly pleasing to us to 
discover that the universal day of rest was to be 
the busiest day of the week; that such proved 
to be the case was largely due to the fact that 
Sunday is essentially a home day and the girls 
moved by their loneliness, sought some gratify- 
ing distraction. This desire for something out 
of the ordinary routine seemed to be appeased 
by going with one's chum to the Inn; the soft 
candle light, the pretty evening dresses of the 
girls, the quick-stepping colored boys who 
served, all tended to produce an air of cheerful- 
ness that soon dissipated the twilight blue of 
the Sabbath, which unless it is ousted, is so prone 
to endure till the morrow producing the pro- 
verbially blue Monday. A Sunday night supper 



32 



at the Inn seemed to insure a week well started 
on the road of optimistic endeavor. 

That the Inn had won an undisputed place 
in the affections of the College girls was shown 
by the songs they sang at their dinner parties 
and banquets, for they never failed to include 
the Inn, Miss Lapham and myself in "Drink her 
Down, Drink her Down." While the Inn has 
continued to be a place of festivity and is quite 
universally loved, the personal relations between 
the Vassar girls and the management at the Inn 
have never since been so intimate, so endearing 
as during those first few years. 




33 



VIII 

THE INN A PUBLIC BENEFIT 

The faculty also came to look upon the Inn 
as a great convenience ; besides providing a place 
of entertainment for their own out of town 
guests, they found that it offered the solution 
of many domestic and social problems concern- 
ing the life of the students. Cooking in the bed- 
rooms became less frequent, and College halls 
no longer exhaled the odors of savory dishes. 
Instead of making rarebits or fudge, or eating 
candy and pickles between meals, the girls came 
to the Inn showing they were cultivating an 
appetite for more wholesome food by ordering 
soup, meat, salads and sandwiches, rather than 
ice-cream and devil's food cake. 

It was never too late for breakfast at the Inn, 
and whether it was a member of the faculty, or 
a student, a late riser could always find suste- 
nance here long after the closing of the dining- 
room doors in the dormitories. Any one who 
was run down in health and in need of a special 
diet according to the advice of the resident phy- 
sician could obtain such food at the Inn much 
more easily than from the College kitchen. 

Another question that had been very puzzling 
in College discipline was the entertainment of 
young men who came to visit their sisters and 
friends; whereas chaperones had formerly been 
required when the girls went off campus with 



34 



gentlemen, they were now given the privilege 
of going to the Inn with their brothers or other 
girls' brothers, unchaperoned, provided they 
could do so without cutting chapel or any other 
College function. At the Inn there was always 
an air of chaperonage created by the very at- 
mosphere of the place, its publicity, and its ever 
open dining-room and parlor. 

The old time Sunday night clubs for planning 
spreads to be served in the College rooms had 
to go; they soon lost prestige after the Inn 
opened its doors for here could be found the best 
of food and every desirable dainty, without the 
trouble and disorder involved by cooking and 
eating in inconvenient bed-rooms, not to men- 
tion the waste of time and money consumed in 
marketing. Some of these clubs had become 
quite exclusive; they adopted certain names, 
and almost took on the nature of a sorority that 
is perpetuated from year to year by voting in 
new members who were chosen not because of 
their ability to prepare a tempting meal, nor for 
their lusty appetites, nor for their brilliant after 
dinner speeches, but for purely social reasons; 
so the Inn did another real service by creating 
a more democratic fad. 

Compared with many hotels the democracy 
of the Inn seems quite phenomenal. A short, 
time ago while visiting a hotel at a famous sum- 
mer resort, I found that the proprietor had hit 
upon a most unique plan for seating his guests 
at meal time. All the people who had rooms 
with bath were placed on the lake side of the 



35 



dining-room while those without baths were 
ushered to the opposite side. This division 
seemed to extend to the service also, the w. b. s. 
being served with asparagus tips while the 
w. o. b. s. drew only the stalks. The new wait- 
resses were tried out on the w. o. b. s., but as soon 
as they became proficient they were immediately 
promoted to the other side of the dining-room. 
This plan of segration was not so bad as it might 
seem on first thought, especially for the w. b. s. ; 
it brought together the women with dogs, the 
fat men who could not stand the shock (to others 
as well as to themselves) of bathing on the shore, 
and others who found interest in their common 
ailments. The w. o. b. s. were not without con- 
solation, however, in regard to this class dis- 
tinction. Being more likely to have children 
than dogs, they found an immediate bond of 
friendship with their companions at the table. 
The intellectuals too who for some strange rea- 
son are not always blessed with sufficient worldly 
goods to afford a private bath, found congenial 
acquaintances on their far side of the dining- 
room, as well as on the lake shore. While the 
Inn tries to be democratic, it has never been 
very cordial in welcoming the pet dog; although 
sometimes when business is dull it is a great 
temptation to wink at a lunch-basket that barks. 
The popularity of the Inn was not confined 
alone to those associated with Vassar College. 
The residents of Arlington (the community just 
outside the campus) soon came to feel that it 
was a friendly institution instead of a grasping 



36 



competitor. The standards set them by a place 
conducted on more business like methods than 
they had employed, led the neighbors to install 
bath-rooms and electric lights in their cottages, 
and to improve their homes in various ways so 
that many people who had previously gone to 
one of the downtown hotels rather than take a 
room in a private house, were now quite content 
to room in a cottage and take their meals at the 
Inn. With the improved conditions, prices ad- 
vanced, so that now the rooming of College 
guests has become quite a business in itself 
among the women of Arlington. 

The increased number of visitors aroused the 
civic pride of the community, and the extra 
money set in circulation, made it possible to in- 
troduce many improvements, so that now side- 
walks and street lights, neatly kept lawns and 
gardens and shade trees indicate an enlightened 
and prosperous suburb. We are still hoping 
for an improved roadway and a water supply 
that will guarantee adequate fire protection, and 
no doubt these desires will soon be fulfilled. 
Now that the women of New York State have 
the right to vote, politicians can no longer con- 
sider the Vassar community as one to be ignored 
or trifled with as in the past. Mrs. MacCracken 
(wife of the President of the College, Dr. Henry 
Noble MacCracken) has become a decided leader 
in civic affairs and there is now every reason to 
hope that Arlington may soon become a part 
of the City of Poughkeepsie, with the promise of 
all the improvements that such a union implies. 



37 



IX 



THE LONG FELT WANT BECOMES 
A MATTER OF COURSE 

As time passed it was inevitable that the much 
appreciated "long felt want" should, alas, come 
to be taken as a matter of course, while the rela- 
tions between Vassar College and the Inn gradu- 
ally assumed the aspect of a strictly business 
proposition. It would have been most unrea- 
sonable on our part to expect the expressions of 
surprise and approval that greeted us at the 
opening to continue indefinitely, but the joy of 
endeavor had been largely fostered by the gener- 
ous praises of our guests and as the newness wore 
off, the inspiration that comes with the birth of 
a new idea also waned, leaving us with the cold 
fact that "business is business." 

The greatest strain upon one's heart strings 
when running an inn that is essentially a place 
of gaiety, comes from being a constant spectator 
of other people's pleasures, being in it but not 
of it. While we were glad to promote the happi- 
ness of others, there was a certain sadness con- 
nected with being simply contributory to the 
festivities of a life which we too had once en- 
joyed so keenly; it was disheartening to find 
ourselves gradually eliminated from those func- 
tions that had made college so delightful to us 



38 



and which had led us to settle near the Vassar 
Campus. 

This divorcement of interests was due not 
only to our intense absorption in business affairs, 
but to the shifting population of the community. 
There were constant changes in the faculty be- 
sides the endless succession of seniors and fresh- 
men. The freshmen are well named for they 
certainly bring refreshment once a year to an 
institution where all must ere long be cast in the 
same mold. But in spite of the dear freshmen 
who came every fall with a breath from the out- 
side world, with their delightful mannerisms, 
their originality in dress, their timidity and 
homesickness, we found that the academic life 
of a woman's college had begun to pall upon 
our spirits and we longed for a broader life that 
had more to offer in the way of democratic in- 
terests and stirring experiences. 




39 



X 

MISS LAPHAM MARRIES 

It was at this "matter of course" stage in the 
development of the Inn that Miss Lapham suc- 
cumbed to the attractions of a more domestic 
life and was married (1905) to Clement J. France, 
Ph.D., a popular young attorney from her home, 
town, Canandaigua, New York. They moved 
to the far west shortly after their marriage where 
both have proved themselves true to the progres- 
sive ideals of their college life. Miss Lapham 
left at a most opportune time for her, for al- 
though our miniature Waldorf Astoria was fast 
outgrowing its newness, our debts were not so 
old nor so threatening as to cause any deep pre- 
sentiment of disaster. Her departure was a 
real calamity to me however, for besides losing 
the inspiration of her companionship, I was 
obliged not only to assume greater responsibility 
in all departments of the work, but to shoulder 
the financial burden alone. Miss Lapham's 
was a personality that left a lasting impression; 
her determination and good judgment had done 
much to establish the policy of the Inn, and her 
vivacity helped to create that air of hospitality 
which marked the Inn from the beginning as a 
social center for the Vassar girls and their friends. 



40 



XI 

I WRITE MY THESIS 

From time to time I have been asked by vari- 
ous representatives of the press to write some- 
thing concerning my experiences in establishing 
and conducting the Inn, but with the pressure 
of many duties the opportunity seemed always 
deferred to an indefinite future. But when in 
the summer of 1917, I decided to accept an offer 
to rent the Inn, and so secure for myself two 
whole years of freedom, the thought came to me 
that now was my chance to write the belated 
article about this institution to which I have 
devoted so many years of my life. 

As the college professor obtains a leave of 
absence, does some original research work, 
writes her thesis, and returns with an additional 
degree to her name, so I too would write my 
thesis; I would search my own memory, my own 
past, for those original experiences, the render- 
ing of which might offer encouragement to other 
souls, and so secure for myself a degree not to 
be represented by symbolic letters, but a degree 
of satisfaction in the thought that the past with 
all the pains of defeat and the joy of endeavor, 
might carry some message to others who are also 
blazing the trail of emancipated womanhood. 

Instinctively I have followed the line of 
thought suggested by the questions most fre- 



41 



quently asked by those observing people who 
upon visiting the Inn have had their curiosity 
aroused in regard to the origin and development 
of a place which seems so definitely to possess a 
personality of its own. The questions that 
seemed most pointed and which I encountered 
most often, are the following : 

1. How did you come to think of building an 

Inn near Vassar College? 

2. Did it require a good deal of capital? 

3. Do you have trouble in keeping your help? 

4. Has the Inn been a success? 

5. Do you advise other women to go into busi- 

ness? 

In tracing the early stages of the Inn, I have 
unavoidably answered some of these questions 
in part, but now I shall proceed to a more de- 
tailed analysis of the different phases of its de- 
velopment. 




42 



XII 

SLAMMING THE DOOR ON 
OPPORTUNITY 

No one who had attended College previous 
to the year 1902, would think of asking such a 
thing as, How did it happen? for during those 
early days the prevailing questions had been: 
Why doesn't some one start an Inn? Wouldn't 
it pay? Isn't there any one sufficiently enter- 
prising and public spirited? 

The opportunity was there for all to see; it 
only remained for some one with courage and 
the power of initiation to respond to the call. 
The following story which appeared in the Pitts- 
burgh Post illustrates how easy it is for oppor- 
tunity to be ignored: "A stranger knocked at a 
man's door and told him of a fortune to be made. 

"Um!" said the man, "it appears that con- 
siderable effort will be involved." 

"Oh, yes," said the stranger, "you will pass 
many sleepless nights and toilsome days!" 

"Um!" said the man, "and who are you?" 

"I am called opportunity." 

"Um!" said the man, "you call yourself oppor- 
tunity, but to me you look like hard work," and 
he slammed the door in his face. 

No doubt this opportunity to open an Inn near 
Vassar College had knocked at many doors be- 
fore it found those who were willing to give it 
entertainment instead of slamming the door in 
its face. 



43 



XIII 

FAITH AS A WORKING CAPITAL 

In regard to the second question concerning 
the amount of capital involved, I think I have 
already proved that money is not the only asset 
required; while the Inn was said to be built of 
air, its foundation was of the firmest faith — a 
faith sublimely unshaken by criticism or by 
threatened financial ruin. Moreover, in creat- 
ing a place like the Inn, faith, or credit which is 
but one form of faith, seems to be the only avail- 
able capital for an individual enterprise, for it 
stands to reason that a woman with a fortune 
sufficiently large to build and equip the Inn, 
would not feel the necessity of doing anything 
at all for a living, neither would she risk her 
money where so much hard work and responsi- 
bility are demanded. While the inns at Welles- 
ley and Bryn Mawr have been owned and man- 
aged by stock companies composed of alumnae 
and faculty, these institutions, so far as I have 
been able to ascertain, have never been self 
supporting. This fact goes to show that a paid 
manager or employee does not usually attain 
the same degree of success as an individual who 
feels the pressure of personal responsibility; 
necessity is a great slave driver. 

To start an enterprise may be likened to buy- 
ing an automobile ; the initial cost is a trifle com- 



44 



pared with the upkeep. In our case, if we had 
only had a little more money — just enough for 
gasoline, say — to keep the Inn running smoothly 
for a year or two, or even for a few months, all 
would have been well. But after the first sprint 
our gas was about gone ; there was no lubricating 
bank account ; the gears were all balled up with 
bills; there were no non-skid tires to keep us in 
the middle of the road; there were no free-air 
tanks by the way side; all we could do was to 
borrow some gasoline, open the cut-out for more 
power, toot our horn and go as far as we could. 
Our debtors mistook the noise for a sign of pros- 
perity and charged larger bills than before. 

As the business grew the Inn by comparison 
seemed to shrink in size ; while it continued to be 
unique in its ability to anticipate and to meet 
the peculiar demands of college trade, it could 
avoid competition only by providing adequate 
accommodations for all who came, and by main- 
taining a style of service not to be surpassed, so 
that no rival would dare to start a similar place 
in the neighborhood. And so the Inn began to 
grow like an amoeba by throwing out protuber- 
ances here and there, and it grew so fast, it hurt ; 
it almost died of growing pains and financial 
exhaustion. It would have been a mark of 
greater wisdom no doubt if we had gone more 
slowly but smaller tea-rooms had already sprung 
up in the neighborhood and the call for better 
equipment seemed imperative; instead of curb- 
ing our ambitions we pushed on to still greater 
achievements. 



45 



The first addition to the Inn proved to be 
larger than the original building ; it not only en- 
larged the dining-room, but provided also a re- 
ception room and eight more bed-rooms. As a 
new dress demands a new pair of shoes, so these 
improvements called for better working facili- 
ties, and new pantries and kitchens soon fol- 
lowed. With this more complete equipment in 
the rear for conducting a larger business, it 
seemed profitable to again extend the dining- 
room, and to add a sun-parlor also which could 
be used to supplement the table service. And 
so for many years one improvement seemed to 
require another in order to build up the business. 
As a result of this mushroom growth, the sum 
total indebtedness on the Inn increased appall- 
ingly. Planning for the new equipment might 
not have been so fatal if it had not been for the 
"wear and tear" on the old furnishings which 
needed constantly to be replaced. 




46 



XIV 

THE CRISIS 

With the increased business capacity result- 
ing from the numerous additions to the Inn, the 
credit accounts, alas, as well as the debts, mul- 
tiplied in like proportion; instead of a few hun- 
dred dollars outstanding, thousands of dollars 
were tied up in the charge accounts. It was no 
longer easy to borrow sums of money large 
enough to carry the Inn over a hard time such 
as it always experienced during the dull months 
of winter, for loans of correspondingly greater 
magnitude were required to relieve the situation. 

Meanwhile there was the interest on the mort- 
gage and the various notes to be paid besides 
the notes themselves; there were taxes and in- 
surance and the general running expenses to be 
met. It became a case of not exactly robbing 
Peter to pay Paul, but of making Peter wait, 
just as I had to wait for the college girls to pay 
me; and thus current debts were neglected in 
order to pay the notes and contracts that were 
constantly falling due. Peter, who may be 
taken to represent the men supplying the Inn 
with groceries, meat and other provisions on 
credit, protected himself so to speak, by charg- 
ing exorbitant prices, and who could blame him 
for so doing? To change tradesmen however, 
under such conditions, even though you feel 



47 



that you are being imposed upon, is only to in- 
vite disaster, for when you owe a large sum to 
any business firm and cannot pay that indebted- 
ness, they "have you," and Peter certainly had 
me in his clutches. 

A crisis became inevitable as the financial 
affairs grew more and more complicated; the 
profits were exceedingly good and were used 
constantly to cut down the old indebtedness, 
but even so there seemed to be no way of avert- 
ing the crisis which came swift and hard when it 
did come. I woke up one morning to find my- 
self, not famous, but in the eyes of some— in- 
famous; my credit was wiped out, the banks re- 
fused any further loans, and all my creditors 
clamored for their money at once; a condition 
which might throw almost any concern out of 
business. When such a calamity comes it is 
surprising how friends flee, how ready they are 
to doubt one's integrity, how fearful that they 
may be put to the acid test of friendship— to 
lend money, how unwilling to listen with a sym- 
pathetic ear, or to reiterate their former expres- 
sions of confidence and affection. 

The Inn was not thrown into bankruptcy as 
some expected, for the assets were readily ac- 
knowledged to be far greater than the liabilities; 
neither was it closed, but a trustee was ap- 
pointed, and then began a long series of events 
which must have been distressing to him, as well 
as to myself, although not in the same degree of 
intensity perhaps; he was very dictatorial, or 
at least he seemed so to me having had my own 



48 



freedom for so long, and I was rebellious ; so that 
conditions soon took on the nature of a personal 
fight rather than a plan of co-operation for the 
benefit of all concerned. A good game of chess 
with its checkmate and counter check could 
scarcely have been more exciting, although it 
might have been more fun. 

Of course a trustee should be trusted — that's 
what he is for. If I had been a man he would 
no doubt have treated me with greater tender- 
ness and so won my confidence, but being a 
woman, and a business woman at that, I was 
naturally effeminate — so much so that at times 
I was even cattish and showed my claws when- 
ever my fur was brushed the wrong way by any 
new mandate or any added restriction to my free- 
dom. My back hit its highest parabolic curve 
on that memorable day following close upon 
commencement when he emptied my safe and 
cash-register of their contents, and notified the 
bank where I was doing business that my checks 
were not to be acknowledged. 

But why should a trustee be expected to know 
that a woman could not live all summer on the 
commencement left-overs (in those days the Inn 
was not open for business during the vacation ;. 
Even with the war time recipies which had not 
yet been given to the world it is doubtful if I 
could have put up such a tremendously econom- 
ical stunt. Growing weary of soft strawberry 
ice, stale devil's food cake and puffed rice as a 
diet, I began to wonder what I could do to vary 
the menu. Accordingly I consulted some of 



49 



the grocers who kindly offered to let me exchange 
flour, pickles, baking-powder and sugar, for 
fresh eggs, butter and green vegetables, so that 
on the whole I fared much better than one might 
expect. It would have been wiser for me to 
tell the trustee of my predicament, but it is often 
easier to be a martyr than to seek justice or to 
accept favors. 

The tortois like movement of the law was the 
most irritating feature of the whole condition; 
the trades people were compelled to wait months 
for the legal process that was to pay them the 
money which was already theirs and which was 
lying idle in the bank. This embarrassed me 
very much indeed and hurt my standing, weak- 
kneed as it was, for it seemed impossible to offer 
any plausible explanation. 

However, I will not dwell longer upon the 
many seeming hardships that were imposed up- 
on me by a trusteeship; I say seeming for 
as I look back upon my experiences I see that 
they would not have been so tragic to a person 
who was less rebellious. But I should like to 
impress a word of advice upon the reader; if you 
ever find yourself in a position where you must 
have a trustee, make the best of it; take him for 
better or worse, for it will surely be worse for 
you if you don't and it may be better for you if 
you do. 



50 






*&. 



<# <ar 



# <** ^£ 




EMBLEM OF THE CITY OF POUGHKEEPSIE 



51 



XV 



WITH FORTY-SEVEN CENTS TO MY 
CREDIT, I PREPARE FOR VASSAR'S 
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

As if to make a pleasant company, misfor- 
tunes came crowding upon me. One mortgage 
was foreclosed and then a second, although the 
interest on both was fully paid and had always 
been paid on the date agreed upon. Alas, my 
controversies with the trustee, and my attacks 
upon the politicians for their failure to give 
Arlington something for their taxes, had invited 
the wrath of some powerful enemies who relent- 
lessly pushed me to the ragged edge of failure. 

But just as in the beginning, so now whenever 
I was about to give up in despair, a miracle 
happened; first, an investment that I had made 
in some Canadian land netted me a profit of two 
thousand dollars, a small inheritance brought me 
a few thousand more, a kind brother who had 
faith in the Inn as well as in my own business 
ability, loaned me several thousand, so that in a 
few years I was able to offer my creditors an ac- 
ceptable settlement; it was a happy day for me 
when the trustee was dismissed. 

If my creditors had been more patient I could 
have paid them in full eventually, but they were 
insistent and it seemed wiser to settle with them 



52 



at the rate of sixty cents on the dollar, which 
was the best that I could do at the time, and so 
end the controversy. It should be remembered 
that the salary paid to the trustee, the fees of the 
prosecuting attorneys, as well as those of my 
own lawyer, and the losses entailed by all these 
unhappy distractions, would have gone a long 
way toward paying my debts in full. But there 
was no use of lamenting over the past; I had 
done the best I could and there was only one 
thing to do now and that was to go forward as 
courageously as possible. Since that time I have 
discovered that the rate of settlement (60%) 
was far larger than the average man makes when 
he is pushed to the wall by his creditors. 

Once more all seemed to be going smoothly 
when the lady who had kindly helped me out of 
one of my former difficulties by taking up the 
second mortgage of $3400.00, requested me to 
pay her this sum ; it must have been a mere trifle 
to her for she was a very wealthy woman, but 
it seemed an enormous and almost impossible 
amount to me; I was scarcely on my feet after 
the other troubles through which I had passed 
and my courage sank to the lowest ebb. I could 
not understand her insistent haste, for the in- 
terest had been paid promptly as in the previous 
cases, but the lady wanted her money (or the 
Inn) and she was going to have it whether or no 
or else there would be an interesting auction sale 
in Arlington when the Inn with all its furnish- 
ings would go to the highest bidder. 

It ought to have been easy enough to obtain 



53 



this small sum of thirty-four hundred dollars 
(the first mortgage being only $7100.00) after 
mastering situations that seemed so much more 
serious, but not so — there was no bank and no 
person who had so much money to lend. The 
mortgagor had struck at an opportune time for 
the war in Europe had just been declared, and 
money was so scarce that loans were difficult to 
secure. There seemed to be no one to offer a 
helping or protecting hand, there was no dis- 
senting voice when they talked of an auction 
sale. There were a number of individuals who 
expected to buy the whole equipment at auction 
for very little more than the sum of the two 
mortgages, about one-fourth the cost of the 
property and furnishings. Some even went so 
far as to plan whom they would engage to man- 
age the Inn after it came into their possession. 

It soon became quite apparent that there were 
people who regretted their own short sightedness 
in not taking advantage of the opportunity of 
opening an inn near Vassar College in the early 
days; they were jealous of the initiative of an 
outsider, and were now willing to make up for 
their own delinquency by reaching out to grasp 
from me the child of my mind and heart. 

No doubt there are times when it becomes 
necessary to foreclose a mortgage in order to 
protect an investment, but there are occasions 
when such a procedure becomes nothing more 
nor less than legalized robbery for it may mean 
the forced sale of valuable property at a great 
sacrifice, and it always means big fees for the 



54 



lawyers to be paid by the unfortunate party of 
the second part. It is deplorable but never the 
less true that there are unscrupulous persons who 
resort to this method of enriching themselves 
by obtaining possession of what rightfully be- 
longs to another, and they take advantage of a 
financial panic to make their acts seem justifi- 
able ; petty lawyers have also been known to stir 
up foreclosures for the sake of the fees. 

There seemed to be no possible way of obtain- 
ing thirty-four hundred dollars to pay the mort- 
gage; I begged for a little more time, and a little 
more time still, so that the day of doom would 
fall late in June after the close of the College 
year; this would give me a chance to use my 
year's profits which were tied up in student ac- 
counts until commencement time, but even so 
I could see no way of paying the whole sum. It 
finally occurred to me that I might obtain what 
I needed by borrowing small sums of money 
from various individuals, rather than to seek 
further for any one person who might lend me 
the full amount. My success was phenomenal, 
and with loans ranging from one hundred to 
thirteen hundred dollars, I was soon able to draw a 
che ck f o r the full amount of the mortgage . Even 
then I might have had a fairly good bank account 
left if it had not been for the bills connected with 
the proceedings; I had to pay the prosecuting 
attorney as well as my own, their combined bills 
amounting to about two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars. This was certainly a great waste of money 
for the whole thing was so unjust and so un- 



55 



necessary; the mortgage had been amply pro- 
tected by the actual value of the property, and 
I so much needed funds for extending the equip- 
ment of the Inn. On that July day after pay- 
ing all the bills connected with the foreclosure 
there was just forty-seven cents standing to my 
credit at the bank, while the Fiftieth Anniver- 
sary of Vassar College was only four months 
away, and there was absolutely no prospects of 
earning an income until September. 

In relating these various financial episodes I 
am not trying to cast the blame on anybody else, 
nor trying to defend myself, for most of the ex- 
periences were entirely impersonal being merely 
the result of an attempt to do business without 
sufficient capital; still there is no denying that 
some one else might have had the ability to 
handle these affairs with greater skill and so 
have avoided many of the calamities that I en- 
countered. But it is only fair to state before 
leaving the subject that the confidence of most, 
if not all of my creditors has been regained, and 
there is not a merchant on Main Street who is 
not glad to receive an order from the Inn and to 
extend a reasonable term of credit for the same. 
When dreams come true and miracles too, it may 
be that I can pay the balance of the old indebted- 
ness. 



"^^#er 



56 



XVI 

THE INN CHANGES ITS NAME 

For some years in consequence of the many 
vicissitudes related in the preceding chapters, 
the Inn was a sick sort of a place ; the very build- 
ing itself seemed to take on the melancholy that 
enveloped the owner, for it had necessarily been 
neglected in regard to paper and paint and var- 
nish ; even the employees had a hang-dog look due 
no doubt to the fact that they had stood by the 
place with such dog-like fidelity. But like an ill- 
ness of the flesh that may be largely mental, the 
suffering was outgrown and forgotten in time. 
Peace and prosperity came again to reign and 
the festive atmosphere of old prevailed among 
the guests and the workers. 

One thing that helped greatly to restore the 
Inn to a state of prosperity was giving it the 
name "The Wagner Inn." At first it was called 
simply "The Inn"; later we adopted the name 
"The College Inn," although from the beginning 
it has been universally alluded to by the press 
and by the people of Poughkeepsie, as the Vassar 
Inn, a name which still clings in spite of all 
attempts to fix upon it a title that is less exclu- 
sive in its significance. All these names indi- 
cated to the public mind that only college people 
or their friends would be welcome. "The Wag- 
ner Inn" was adopted with the idea of creating 



57 



a wider hospitality, its only possible implication 
being that all are invited to enter its ever open 
doors regardless of college affiliations. The 
result of this change was manifested in an ever 
increasing automobile trade, for as soon as the 
tourists recognized the Inn as a public hostelry 
they came many miles to enjoy its home like 
atmosphere. 




58 



XVII 

HELP! HELP! HELP! 

Sometimes when people have asked me, "Do 
you have any trouble in keeping your help?" I 
have felt like replying, "My greatest difficulty 
has been to get rid of them." It seems as if I 
had dismissed a hundred times more people 
than I ever engaged to do the work ; this impres- 
sion is no doubt due to the fact that it is much 
pleasanter to give a man a good job than it is to 
take it away from him. I have never been able 
to acquire the tact displayed by Miss Lapham 
in firing an unsatisfactory employee, although 
her method was most original and might well be 
emulated by any one who dreads such a dis- 
agreeable task. At least the following is her 
version, although the reader may do well to take 
it not only with a grain, but a whole pinch of 
salt. She would not tell a man that he was no 
good, that she wished he would vamose; she 
would proceed in this manner, "A fellow with 
your ability ought not to be satisfied with a posi- 
tion in a little place like this, you ought to go to 
New York and get a big job ; here is your pay, go 
and see what you can do at the Hotel Knicker- 
bocker." He would feel so pleased with himself 
by this flattery that he could not realize he was 
merely a victim of painless dentistry while his 
job was being withdrawn. 



59 



The most effective way of escape from the 
thraldom of many employees is to take a vaca- 
tion yourself, a method which I have adopted 
from time to time with the best of results. It 
throws them on their own responsibility and 
gives you a new point of view when you return. 
This plan enables you to keep many faithful 
helpers who might otherwise be cut off by nerves 
that are on edge. 

However there certainly is much truth in the 
statement that I have had but little difficulty 
in keeping my help, for most of the people who 
have worked at the Inn have become attached 
to the place; those who have thought to better 
themselves by going elsewhere, have almost in- 
variably asked to come back. Many faithful 
ones who were at the Inn when I left for my va- 
cation, came almost at the opening of its doors 
seventeen years ago. 

It was in the earliest days that help was such 
a crying (in a literal sense) need. The business 
was scarcely heavy enough to warrant our en- 
gaging professionals, or specialists in different 
lines ; our first cook was expected to do the laun- 
dry work, scrub the floor and wash dishes, be- 
sides preparing the meal orders. She was a 
rapid fire hand at the kitchen range, this Mrs. 
John Dough; she could broil a steak, bake a 
chocolate cake, and iron a table cloth all in the 
same breath; strange to say she took to drink 
and we had to let her go. 

Sophocles was our first real chef and while he 
was a good cook he had unpardonable faults; 



60 



he exhibited strange emotions when he had to 
stop in the middle of a meal and go down cellar 
to pump water, and when there was an excessive 
number of meal orders he juggled with his knives 
in such a way that some of the help fled to the 
farthest ends of the house. He also had the 
habit of taking a day off now and then which 
was rather disconcerting to the boss, and so we 
said, Goodby Sophocles. 

Then came the immaculate Clemence, a big 
blond who wept hysterically when the orders 
came in too fast. I can see him now standing 
stock still before the kitchen range, with great 
tears welling from some inexhaustible fountain. 
Fortunately he was stoutly upholstered in front 
so that the tear-drops did not fall any farther 
than his nice clean apron. Clemence was an 
artist in his work and he wanted time to do 
things well; his culture and efficiency would not 
permit of his moving too rapidly, even though 
the waiters were clamoring in vain for their 
orders. We decided that the right to shed tears 
belonged alone to the management of the Inn, 
a privilege certainly not to be usurped by the 
chef no matter how excellent a cook he might 
be, and so Clemence joined the line of exit. 



61 



XVIII 

THE COLORED MAN A HERO 
AT THE RANGE 

It was not until we tried the colored man in 
the kitchen that we found a chef who could be 
depended upon for calm endurance and regu- 
larity of hours as well as for his quality of cook- 
ing. Nothing short of a real hero can stand at 
a hot kitchen range for hours at a time, prepar- 
ing order after order, no two alike, conscientious- 
ly doing his best, and maintain his equanimity 
regardless of inefficient helpers or impatient 
waiters. Such fortitude surely marks a man as 
a good soldier. Many a time the chef at the Inn 
has been at the range from early morning until 
late at night, scarcely taking time to eat any- 
thing himself; some days the orders have num- 
bered eight or ten hundred people, an abnorm- 
ally large business for the size of the place and 
its equipment. 

Clifford, our first colored chef, proved to be a 
real prize; he was never too much overcome by 
the heat, nor too busy to smile and bow at the 
right time. But he graduated from the Inn in 
a few years, smiling and bowing himself into 
larger hotels with ever increasing pay, until now 
he has become famous in his line from New York 
to Florida. 

Then came the formidable and very reverend 



62 



Mr. So-and-so; he would not have lost his dig- 
nity if burned at the stake. I doubt if we ever 
knew his first name, or called him by his last 
without using a handle, or even referred to him 
by the shorter cognomen of chef; it was always 
Mister this, or Mister that. Being an excellent 
cook, he too after an apprenticeship of a few 
years left for the larger opportunities that 
awaited him in the metropolis. 

I use the word apprenticeship in referring to 
the time these men spent at the Inn, for while 
we did not exactly teach them how to cook, we 
kept them up to a uniform standard of excellence 
in their work, which was good training and put 
them on their mettle. After we discovered that 
a man knew how to cook nothing short of his 
best would satisfy us, so that the New York 
employment agencies claimed they could always 
secure a desirable position for any man who had 
cooked at the Inn for any length of time. 

The next man of any note who went over the 
top with his broilers and kettles has worked at 
the Inn off and on, but mostly on, for eight or 
ten years, his off seasons representing winters 
in Florida and mid-summers in the mountains 
or at the seashore, the dull times at the Inn for- 
tunately coinciding with the busy seasons of the 
summer resorts. While the Inn now remains 
open during the summer for the automobile 
trade, business is not so heavy as when College 
is in session, and after Christmas there is always 
a lack of festivities due partly to the weather but 
mostly to the mid-year exams and the opening 



of a new semester's program. These alternat- 
ing currents of prosperity at the Inn furnish the 
chef as well as some of the others with a variety 
of scenery and experience that lends inspiration 
to their work. 

Between the advent and departure of the few 
famous chefs that I have mentioned in particu- 
lar, numerous others have been tried, dismissed, 
and forgotten. 

Our dining-room experiences in regard to the 
help were quite similar to those of the kitchen; 
the maids whom we tried at first as waitresses 
did not seem able to endure the fluctuating busi- 
ness; they were just as discontented with the 
ennui of a dull day as they were rebellious at 
the over crowding on a busy one. They were 
very particular about having their work special- 
ized, and quite unwilling to take part in the gen- 
eral cleaning that had to be done between times. 
We also found that women were over sensitive, 
often taking a suggestion or criticism from the 
management as a mark of personal animosity. 

In desperation we again turned to the colored 
man for a solution of the problem hoping at 
least to find those who were equipped with phy- 
sical strength and endurance, for we had become 
thoroughly convinced that waiting on table was 
no work for women. 

Then came George, the affable head-waiter, 
who was probably the most notable figure in the 
early history of the Inn. George was a past 
master in getting work out of the other boys ; but 
when his usual good natured "persuadability" 



64 



failed to produce the desired results he was 
liable to assail his colored helpers with "You 
good for nothin' white trash you!" although 
some of them were as black as the ace of spades, 
this epithet always produced a quick response 
to orders. 

During leisure hours George would start the 
boys to debating upon the most profound sub- 
jects, such as "Which does you like best, antici- 
pation or dissipation!" It was usually two to 
one in favor of the latter for absolute pleasure. 
He had the genius of the southern darkey for 
coining words ; imagine my surprise one morning 
when he asked me to order a dozen new mica- 
roscopes; what kind of scientific investigations 
could he be planning for the waiters? I soon 
discovered that he wanted micas to be used under 
the candle shades to protect them from the 
flame. However, these modest contrivances are 
still listed at the Inn as micaroscopes for who 
would spoil such a delicious application of high 
sounding English? And no waiter was ever 
tolerated in the dining-room whom he suspected 
of being "unprinciplefied." 

George seemed to be always on duty; it was 
never too early in the morning for him to wel- 
come a visitor, and it was never too late at night 
for him to speed the parting guest with a genial 
"goodby, come again." He treated all alike 
with his winning smile and scraping bow, 
whether it was the timid freshman or the College 
president, the humble mother of a delinquent 
child, or the proud father of a youthful prodigy; 



65 



he had a way of anticipating one's wishes and 
his manner seemed to say, My one joy in life is 
to make you, you in particular, comfortable and 
happy. 

At the present writing there are still two 
waiters at the Inn who came about the same 
time George arrived and who have taken charge 
of the work since his death, winning a marked 
degree of popularity for themselves. Girls may 
come and girls may go and so may the faculty, 
but this pair of faithful servitors stick to the 
Inn ; like the stone pillars in front they seem to 
have become a part of the institution. Almost 
every girl who has ever accepted even a chocolate 
sundae from their hands, may be sure of a place 
in their infallible memory. A college student 
returning to her Alma Mater anticipating a 
cordial welcome to old scenes, may find that 
former friends have gone, there have been 
changes among the faculty, she feels herself for- 
gotten, but let her merely set foot inside the 
doors of the Inn and she will perceive a ready 
recognition in the eyes of the colored boys who 
can pronounce her name on sight; here at last 
she feels at home and is not so unimportant after 
all. The boys might be able to divulge the 
secret of "improving your memory in one even- 
ing" according to "The amazing Experience of 
Victor Jones" as promulgated by the Indepen- 
dent Corporation in all the current magazines, 
but they will never "give it away" for this 
faculty is a part of their stock in trade. 

Waiters are a very observing class of people 



66 



and show great discernment in regard to table 
manners, classifying their patrons accordingly. 
One of the colored boys was once heard to 
remark in regard to a guest, "I knows he's a gen- 
tleman by his brand of eating;" the gentleman 
turned out to be one of the College trustees. 
If you have leisure you may catch Bennie in a 
conversational mood and permit him to tell you 
some of his darkey stories such as the following, 
which seems to be a favorite. A congregation 
of colored people decided to give their pastor 
a fine Christmas present. They had heard him 
express the desire to reach the proud distinction 
of writing "D. D." after his name. A commit- 
tee appointed to investigate the matter found 
that a college selling such a perquisite charged 
fifty dollars for this reverential degree. As the 
church had succeeded in raising only twenty- 
five dollars, the chairman recommended to the 
people that they present the beloved pastor 
with only one "D" this Christmas, reserving 
the other "D" for a future gift. 

Thomas who comes and goes with the seasons 
must not be overlooked for he is the harbinger 
of spring with its busy days; he comes like the 
birds with a new coat and a song about Easter 
time and who can refuse him welcome? I go 
down stairs some fine morning and there he is. 
I know as soon as I see the whites of his eyes and 
his glistening teeth that spring has really arrived, 
and all I can say is "Hello, Thomas, you here 
already?" After the summer vacation he re- 
turns to help with the opening rush of Septem- 



67 



ber; but by that time his coat is rusty too like 
the birds, and becoming restless and discontented 
for some unaccountable reason he soon disap- 
pears; he goes south with his colleagues and the 
round is repeated. I have often wished that 
Thomas would settle down and stay at the Inn 
for I hold that his laugh alone is worth at least 
a dollar a day to any household. In regard to 
some of the help who were "called down" for 
being late, Tom was heard to remark "Der's 
sure one thing we does have fresh in dis here 
hotel every day, and dat's fresh excuses." 




68 



XIX 

TWO COONS LOOK ALIKE TO ME 

Tom and Jerry were two waiters sent to the 
Inn on trial by a New York employment agency. 
They looked so much alike to me that I could 
not see any mark of distinction even when they 
stood side by side except that one was a trifle 
shorter than the other. This seeing double 
made me nervous and I decided that one of them 
would have to go. As the name Tom seemed to 
bring a quicker response than Jerry I decided 
that the latter was the carbon copy and selected 
him as the victim for dismissal; accordingly I 
sent for him one morning to come to the office 
when I broke the news to him as gently as pos- 
sible, telling him to get his things and return to 
the office for his money. In a few moments a 
colored man appeared whom I took for Jerry; 
I gave him his pay, expressed my regrets and said 
goodby. He had scarcely gone when the real 
Jerry entered and asked for his wages ; what had 
I done? To my consternation I discovered that 
I had fired the wrong man, but Tom had not 
gone so far but that he could be recalled. He 
was not at all resentful concerning this "double 
dealing," and returned to work with the charac- 
teristic good nature he has shown in many years 
of intermittent service. 

One new waiter who was over zealous in his 



69 



desire to please, spent an entire afternoon tak- 
ing the paper covers off the lemonade straws 
just after a big bill had been paid for putting 
them on. He was in the class with the chamber 
maid who was discovered spending her leisure 
hours in un -wrapping the individual soaps. 
These acts were suggestive of such traits that 
neither of them stayed very long at the Inn. 




70 






XX 

TELL YOU WHY 

A man of all work whom for convenience I 
will call Peter deserves to be mentioned in this 
article for he had that wonderful faculty of being 
able to "tell why." I would say "Peter, don't 
you think it would be better to begin at the top 
of the stairs to sweep?" "Yes, ma'am, and I'll 
tell you why." Or "Peter, wouldn't it be a good 
plan to clean out the fire place before you start 
to dust?" "Sure, now and I'll tell you why," 
and he could tell why, he could preach a sermon 
on the subject, but the next time he would again 
begin at the bottom of the stairs. It was sur- 
prising how quickly Peter's mind responded to 
reason, but like many logicians he acted mechan- 
ically, reserving his logic for oratorical outbursts 
only, and still at that time in New York State, 
Peter could vote but I couldn't; I was merely 
the nonentity who paid the taxes. I sometimes 
wondered if even Peter could tell why. 



71 



XXI 

WHEN THE SNOW IS GREEN 

Dish washing at the Inn has always been a 
most troublesome problem; women it would 
seem ought to be especially well fitted for this 
work but they are not so constituted that they 
can wash dishes all day without getting nervous. 
I did not discover this until one busy day of con- 
stant serving when Annie broke into tears and 
wringing her hands exclaimed hysterically, 
"Thank God I have a home to go to where there 
aint no dishes." And Jennie asking for her pay 
one night declared that the snow would be green 
before she ever washed dishes again. 

Women speak of this work usually not as dish- 
washing but "doing the dishes" thus indicating, 
perhaps unconsciously, that they are bent upon 
getting done sometime ; but at the Inn where the 
service continues all day this happy result is sel- 
dom accomplished, so I found in the long run 
that it was better to have men wash the dishes ; 
they were more willing to wash dishes by the 
hour or the day, just as they might dig a ditch 
that is endless. Although I often felt that men 
were too indifferent to the finishing of the task, 
they seemed better fortified nervously to endure 
the monotony of such toil. 

In many hotels and private houses too, I have 
often noticed that the builders make the mistake 



72 



of placing the sinks against an inside wall. This 
only increases the monotony of an already deadly 
task. In planning for dish-washing I have found 
that it pays when possible, to see that the 
workers have access to one or more windows, for 
a view of the out doors, be it only a patch of 
blue sky, lightens almost any work. The reader 
may justly ask why we did not have a dish- 
washing machine ; at one time our water supply 
and plumbing equipment did not seem to war- 
rant that sort of apparatus, but a small machine 
has since been installed. 




* 



m 



73 



XXII 

MISS LYNCH— A STAND-BY 

In all work pertaining strictly to the functions 
of a good housekeeper, I found women invalu- 
able; besides the bed-room work it needed the 
peculiar intelligence of women to superintend 
the store-room, the ice-boxes, and the general 
cleaning of the establishment. There is one 
women who has been at the Inn since the first 
year of its opening and has become a first class 
Jack of all trades; I refer to Miss Katherine E. 
Lynch who began by helping us "week ends" 
with anything that needed to be done, and has 
gradually worked into a more regular and re- 
sponsible position. It would be difficult to de- 
fine her sphere for she is here, there, and every- 
where, a modest, silent figure keeping mostly 
behind the scenes. She plans menus for dinner 
parties, helps to decorate the tables, and orders 
the best of everything for the cooks to prepare. 
On crowded busy days it is Miss Lynch who en- 
courages the others, keeps them at their work, 
makes peace when there is danger of friction, 
and acts as a buffer between the employer and 
employees. She is altogether a very important 
factor in the management of the Inn for she 
knows all the ropes, from running the electric 
pump and jollying a disgruntled guest, to cashing 
up and paying off the help at the end of a busy day 



74 



Women were at their best where ever the work 
was varied in character, and proved themselves 
indispensable in the salad or serving rooms where 
the results to be attained were beyond mere 
drudgery. The making and serving of salads 
and sandwiches and fancy desserts afford every 
opportunity for ingenuity and artistic touches 
such as can be given only by a woman who loves 
her work. It would be difficult to find any one 
who could serve tempting dishes of breakfast 
fruits in such a hurry as Anna Suwarrow, or who 
could turn out hundreds of salads all at the same 
time, each one looking as if it alone had been the 
object of special attention. 




75 



XXIII 

THE INN A TRAINING SCHOOL 

One of the most gratifying features in con- 
ducting a business is to see the employees de- 
velop under your tutelage; it is surprising how 
quickly men and women respond to good treat- 
ment, how almost instinctively they assume re- 
sponsibility in an atmosphere that is free from 
nagging. I have had people come to the Inn to 
work who seemed utterly transformed in their 
personality within a few weeks. 

Any success that I may have had in handling 
my employees can be attributed to two rules 
that I have tried to maintain. First, I have 
always insisted upon peace among the workers 
at the Inn, who were expected to treat each other 
with the same courtesy they would show to an 
out-sider. No language was allowed that was 
not fit for the guests or the management to hear, 
and any dissenter was called upon to reform or 
leave. An outwardly apparent submission to 
these rules was not sufficient ; more than once I 
have dismissed a man, not for the things he did, 
nor for the things he left undone, but on account 
of the things he thought; it was the spirit and 
not merely the letter of the law that had to be 
fulfilled. 

The second resolve was especially important 
in securing skilled labor and in maintaining har- 



70 



mony; this was my motto ''Never do anything 
yourself that you can hire done." On first 
thought it may seem to the reader that this was 
a manifestation of laziness, but I found that 
after I had detailed the work to different persons 
to perform they took more pleasure in it if they 
were given full responsibility. I tried never to 
interfere except in so far as it might be necessary 
to give important suggestions which would facili- 
tate the method of doing the work, or to see if 
the results were satisfactory. I also found that 
when I tried to economize by doing any specific 
piece of work myself, some other line suffered 
from the lack of proper supervision, and it was 
wiser for me to stick to my own task of general 
manager. 

I always encouraged any diversion among the 
employees that did not interfere with their 
duties; rainy days or dull intervals would often 
find a number of boys playing card or checkers, 
and at busy times one of the leaders perhaps 
would wisely start the boys to singing at their 
work. A dozen singing darkies could clean up 
the dining-room and wash the dishes in almost 
no time. Whether they sang according to rule 
or not the result was always harmonious and in- 
spiring; it was like music to the soldiers. To 
the guests and the neighbors there was something 
mystically beautiful in this singing of the darkies 
at their work. It is one of those pleasant fea- 
tures of the life at the Inn that stand out clearly 
in my recollections to the exclusion of many 
sordid experiences that had to be met each day. 



77 



It was probably this privilege of self expression, 
which is after all the only true method of educa- 
tion and growth, that has attracted the em- 
ployees to the Inn and held them there despite 
the lure of the city. 




7S 



XXIV 

HAS THE INN BEEN A SUCCESS? 

In regard to the question, Has the Inn been a 
success, the answer depends entirely upon one's 
point of view and what one means by success. 
If reference is made to the financial situation as 
it stands today, I can truly say that the enter- 
prise has been a paying investment. Besides 
having afforded me a generous living during the 
past sixteen years, the Inn is now comparatively 
free from debt, and I am drawing a fairly good 
income from the rent. Unless some unforseen 
calamity happens the property should increase 
in value with the growth of the College and the 
City. 

Considered as a training school for all kinds 
of people, the Inn has certainly been a success; 
this has already been shown in dwelling upon 
the help question, but the Inn has also been a 
place of education for any number of college 
girls ; many young women who have had no home 
responsibilities in ordering meals, learn for the 
first time how a dainty luncheon or a course din- 
ner should be served, and what menus are appro- 
priate for different occasions. It is no exag- 
geration to say that a student expecting a dis- 
tinguished guest might order the following com- 
bination — chicken soup, fried chicken, chicken 
salad, hot chocolate, chocolate sundae, and 



79 



chocolate cake, for young people seem to have 
an abnormal appetite for chicken and chocolate. 
Many a time the management has saved a 
hostess and the guest of honor too, from embar- 
rassment, by interfering with such a childlike 
display of taste, and substituting at the last 
moment a well balanced course dinner; frequent- 
ly this has been done at the expense of the Inn ; 
it was not always easy to offer an explanation or 
apology, even though the girls were usually 
grateful for helpful suggestions. On account of 
the reputation of the Inn as well as for the com- 
fort of the patrons, the management always de- 
sired to present a tempting and satisfying meal. 
With apologies to the faculty it may be confessed 
that a very intellectual professor has sometimes 
been surprised that for dinner a porter-house 
steak has been served to her Yale or Harvard 
guest instead of the cream chicken she ordered 
in advance. 







80 



XXV 

THE INN GIVEN TO OVERFEEDING 

If by success one has reference to the reputa- 
tion of the Inn and its standards of service as 
compared with other hotels, one has only to 
visit the place to become convinced of its popu- 
larity. Many people say the moment they step 
inside the front door they feel that the Inn has 
personality, its atmosphere of peace and refined 
simplicity is so apparent. This could not be 
said of it perhaps when crowded to its utmost 
capacity; only at times of over feeding has the 
Inn seemed to surfer from Inn-dyspepsia, and 
the pessimistical sensitiveness which usually 
accompanies that malady. Our feelings were 
very much hurt at the time of our first com- 
mencement, and several subsequent commence- 
ments also, for it took a number of years to learn 
how to plan for such preposterous crowds; we 
were roundly scored by hungry mobs for our 
inadequate quarters and for what seemed to 
them slow service. I well remember one morn- 
ing when an irate parent accosted me in the din- 
ing-room with "Madam, I have waited an hour 
and a half for my breakfast"; but I "had one" 
on her when I replied "My dear lady, I can sym- 
pathize with you, I have waited two days for 
mine." 

It is to be hoped that the patrons of the Inn 



81 



will not resent being alluded to as a mob; it 
might seem more respectful to mention the com- 
mencement or Field Day crowd as a seething 
vortex of humanity for such they seemed to 
those who were trying to supply their physical 
needs ; the word mob however, is merely a scien- 
tific term used by psychologists when they wish 
to refer to a large number of people who all seem 
moved by the same instinct to act in a certain 
way at a given time, and it is in this sense that 
the epithet is here applied. 

At one commencement time we hit upon the idea 
of advertising ready-to-serve dishes on the menu, 
a scheme which we thought would greatly facili- 
tate the service. Alas! after the first day we 
never again had time to prepare them in ad- 
vance; for nearly a week the mob clamored for 
the ready-to-serve while other choice viands 
went to waste in the larder. If you have any 
doubt about mob psychology and the power of 
suggestion, all you need do to become convinced 
of this potent influence is to visit the dining-room 
of the Inn during a busy time. One person 
orders a chicken salad, it is seen by a party at 
the next table who thinks it looks inviting and 
the order is repeated; again it is seen and the 
order duplicated over and over. Or it may be 
an innocent looking omelette or short-cake that 
leads the mob to such an onslaught in one line 
that the division of labor in the kitchen is en- 
tirely upset, some being rushed to death while 
others stand idle. A skillful head-waiter can 



82 



sometimes turn the tide of thought suggestion 
but not always. 

In Scotland, a small town of South Dakota, a 
retired army officer owned the best hotel in the 
village ; one busy Sunday the Colonel thought he 
would help in the dining-room by taking meat 
orders from the guests. He started out very 
affably with "Fried chicken and green peas, 
roast beef and cabbage?" "Fried chicken with 
peas" was the unhesitating answer of every 
guest ; realizing suddenly that the dinner would 
not go round if they all persisted in such a simi- 
larity of taste, he ripped out a revolver and 
pointing it at a meek looking gentleman he said, 
"Damn you, you want corn -beef and cabbage." 
With gun in hand he had no further trouble in 
making corn-beef popular. Not being able to 
resort to the Colonel's methods, although we 
deeply sympathized with him, we had to adopt 
more tactful and less conspicuous ways of per- 
suasion. But it can be readily understood why 
the Inn has settled down to a regular chicken, 
or turkey, dinner on Sundays, with no choice of 
any kind, the guests accepting what they are 
given. 

The easiest crowds to serve during the a la 
carte service are those who know what they 
want and order it irrespective of others. Some- 
times it seems as if it would be necessary to 
close the doors and bolt them to keep out those 
very considerate people who persist in ordering 
something easy like sandwiches, tea and toast, 
or boiled eggs. Such people are the most 



83 



difficult to serve and the hardest to suit, es- 
pecially the tea-and-toast fiends. A group of 
women will come in with "Waiter, we are in a 
hurry, all we want is seventeen orders of tea and 
hot toast, bring the order at once. Now, have 
you ever tried to serve tea and toast to a crowd? 
Some want one kind of tea and some another; 
they want toast, dry, buttered, thin, thick, crisp. 
Do you know that it takes time and one's un- 
divided attention to make toast, that it requires 
.an artist rather than a chef to take a slice of 
bread and paint it with hot coals to a delicate 
brown? Do you know that by the time you 
have made the seventeenth pot of tea, the first 
may be like tannin? It finally became necessary 
to take toast off the menu, or mark the price so 
high that it was practically prohibitive to all 
but the dyspeptic who must have it. Eggs also 
had to come off the bill of fare on busy days, 
that is, the medium, hard, and soft boiled. If 
you have never tried to boil eggs for a hundred 
people at a time, take my advice and don't do 
it. The boiled egg fiend would not think of 
such a thing as ordering at his own risk; oh, no, 
if they are not just right, perhaps a trifle too 
hard or too soft, it is on the house to replace the 
order a dozen times if necessary until the desired 
consistency, or inconsistency, is obtained. 



84 



XXVI 

WE LEARN HOW TO HANDLE 
THE CROWDS 

It seemed to us in the beginning that criti- 
cisms at a crowded time were quite unjust; we 
had simply opened a little inn near the college 
for the purpose of catering to the students, with 
no thought of furnishing a guarantee that we 
could take care of any crowd that might descend 
upon us without warning as most of them did. 
It is difficult to plan without great waste when 
there is no way of knowing whether the number 
of patrons will reach a hundred or a thousand. 
But however we might excuse ourselves, we were 
not pardoned by an expectant and hungry public. 
The Inn was destined to grow in size, equip- 
ment, and skill, or else perish. 

The Sunday night crowds we soon learned to 
handle and while there may be some complaints 
to-day by those who are not used to the short 
order service, and while an individual order may 
be overlooked now and then, there is scarcely 
a Sunday evening that less than two hundred 
girls are served in an hour and a half, no two 
ordering the same combinations of food. 

But for the larger crowds that came for some 
special function at the College we had to make 
some vital changes in our plan of serving. By 
eliminating some things entirely from the menu, 



85 



and by a careful adjustment of prices, charging 
more for those things that were most difficult to 
prepare, the guests were surely but gently guided 
to a selection of foods that would facilitate the 
service ; to charge twenty cents for toast and ten 
cents for rolls was taking time by the forelock 
and holding it fast to our own gait while several 
hundred people were hustled through an early 
breakfast. 

The largest crowd that ever descended upon 
the Inn was at the time of the Fiftieth Anni- 
versary Celebration in the fall of 1915. That 
event was the supreme test of endurance and 
adequate service. It proved that by thirteen 
years of experience the workers at the Inn had 
thoroughly mastered the subject of mob psy- 
chology. To my knowledge there was not one 
single person turned away from the dining-room 
doors although hundreds were demanding en- 
trance, and there was not one complaint in re- 
gard to the service received. Not one employee 
dropped out of the ranks during that prolonged 
period of over-work, although many of them were 
on duty all day and far into the night, and so far 
as I know there was no word of irritation spoken 
anywhere within the walls of the Inn, by the 
guests, the employees, or the management, a 
record which it would be hard to duplicate in any 
other hotel. We are perfectly willing, however, to 
share the credit of this unparalleled success with 
our guests for being mostly former students of 
the College, they realized the unusual congestion 
and were most considerate and patient. 



86 






XXVII 

HOLIDAYS AT THE INN 

Nearly all the calendar days set aside for 
special celebrations find the Inn ready with sug- 
gestive ornamentation. The first date in the 
college year to demand attention is Hallowe'en 
which calls for a profusion of yellow bunting 
with Jack o'lanterns, death heads, and broom- 
stick witches. Usually a hob-goblin dinner is 
prepared with a menu sufficiently wierd to satis- 
fy the most superstitious of spook devotees. 
The following bill of fare printed in yellow and 
black is one of the most popular that has ever 
been offered at the Inn to the Saints of All Hal- 
lows: 



The Wagner Inn 




Souvenir Menu 



87 



Hob-Goblin Dinner 
Thursday Evening 
October 31, 1912 




Witches' Delight 




JSPSi* 



Roasted 

Hob-Goblins 

Broom-stick Dressing 

and 

Fresh-Cob-webs 




Ghost Salad 




Skeleton Sandwiches 



$ 



Assorted Spooks 




Jack o' Lantern Pie 



© 



Devil's Food 




Angel's Cream 




90 



Shades of Night 




Music 




Sweet Dreams 



91 



Thanksgiving offers the most satisfactory 
style of decoration with its fall fruits, vegetables 
and flowers. What could be more suggestive 
of abundance or more beautiful in coloring than 
a pyramid piled high with bright yellow pump- 
kins, green squash, yellow and red ears of corn 
with the husks turned back, bright red apples 
and luxurious bunches of grapes, while a profu- 
sion of chrysanthemums about the room sheds 
a glory over all! An effort is always made on 
this day in particular to create a home like at- 
mosphere by having plenty of good things to 
eat, an accompaniment of music perhaps, or a 
special reminder of some of our blessings as em- 
bodied in the following verses which were used 
one year as a souvenir : 



92 



THANKSGIVING SONG 

My heart, it sings and sings and sings, 
I'm thankful for so many things. 

Oh, I am thankful for the sky, 

The blue's just right, I know not why; 

If it were purple, red or green 

Like gorgeous sunsets we have seen, 

If all the day some rainbow hue 

Bedecked the sky, it would be grue some. 

Oh, I am thankful for the sun; 

I like the way the seasons run. 

If autumn followed close the spring 

And winter came upon the wing 

Of summer in its awful heat, 

To other worlds I'd long to beat it. 

Oh, I am thankful for the earth; 

I'm proud of it, my place of birth. 

If I'd been born on ruddy Mars 

Or some of those far distance stars 

That shine and twinkle all the night, 

Through want of sleep, I'd grow unsight — ly. 

Oh, I am thankful for the moon ; 

It shines at night instead of noon. 

If all the nights were black as ink, 

Could I get married, do you think 

Without that golden orb above 

To spoon his heart, my happy lov er? 



93 



Oh, I am thankful that the rain 

Rains down, not up, upon the grain. 

If it rained up into the moon 

We'd all dry up so very soon 

We'd blow away into the air 

And lose our friends and all our bear — ings. 

Oh, I am thankful for the trees 

When they are bare or crowned with leaves. 

If they were weak and could not stand 

In majesty sublime and grand, 

I'd doubt God's making them for me 

To share with other human be ings. 

And last, I'm thankful for my friends 

Who've come to eat these odds and ends. 

If strangers now, or all my foes 

Had gathered here, why goodness knows 

If we could eat that gobbler up 

And spare me endless turkey sup pers. 

I'm thankful for so many things, 

My heart, it sings and sings and sings. 

(M. S. W.) 




94 






As the college girls go home for Christmas 
the Inn begins early in December with its holi- 
day suggestions; everygreens, holly, and poin- 
settias adorn the dining room and parlor, while 
a real Christmas tree with toys and tinsels and 
glinting lights enhances the holiday spirit. A 
Christmas sale is sometimes conducted in the 
sun-parlor exhibiting useful and attractive gifts 
for all, while cheery grate fires bring warmth to 
hands and hearts. 

The most important events following the 
New Year are the birthdays of our two great 
presidents, Lincoln and Washington, but as 
these dates come so close together the celebra- 
tion at the Inn usually takes place on the Fri- 
day or Saturday preceding the twenty-second 
of February. Red, white and blue bunting 
on pillars and walls with festoons of stars and 
stripes declare the patriotic devotion of college 
women, while a colonial dinner or reception 
affords plenty of entertainment especially when 
the colored waiters don appropriate dress suits 
and the white wigs of bygone days. The fol- 
lowing invitation written by our cashier, Reita 
Lambert, was issued in 1913. 




95 




"The shade of George Washington solemn and 

grand 
Has announced his return from the far spirit 

land. 
On the eve of his birthday this most renowned 

ghost 
Accompanied by Martha will act as your host. 

So in ruffies diaphanous, in powder and curls, 
Please dress yourselves up like Colonial girls. 
With song and with dance we'll try to be merry 
To the tune of the hatchet that chopped down 
the cherry." 

St. Valentine's Day is not to be overlooked 
as it affords an especially good opportunity for 
Cupid to remind these college women that they 
are not to be slighted; he has chosen them for 
his mark, and neither books nor wisdom can 
furnish an impenetrable armor to his well aimed 
shaft. 



96 



And thus throughout the college year the 
Inn endeavors to bring to the girls suggestions 
of those events which they have been in the 
habit of observing in the past, in other words 
we try to "Keep the Home Fires Burning" in 
their hearts and minds. 




97 



XXVIII 

SUCCESS A COMPARATIVE TERM 

The popularity of a place may speak for its 
success to a certain extent, but the fact that 
the Inn has survived all its vicissitudes proves 
its endurance, and few things continue to endure 
unless they are either beautiful, or necessary, 
or both. While the Inn has demonstrated its 
usefulness by affording employment and train- 
ing for scores of people, by furnishing pleasure 
and comfort in ordinary times and profiding ne- 
cessities at crowded times, there is still room for 
many improvements, and where there is room 
for improvement, success cannot be spoken of 
as an absolute attainment. It is to be hoped 
that the Inn may claim an ever increasing de- 
gree of success by continuing its growth in size 
and equipment, and more especially in its per- 
fection of service and in the extent of its hospi- 
tality. 

At the present writing the little Inn seems 
threatened by various influences such as compe- 
tition, high prices, and scarcity of labor; at one 
time such conditions might have thrown me 
into a panic which would have only precipitated 
disaster. From past experience I now know 
that I can dwell safely under the Shadow of 
His Wing. That the Inn has a real mission, 
that it will be protected by the college girls and 



98 






others who have learned to love it and its as- 
sociations, and who feel that it presents a unique 
feature of College life, I fully believe. "But 
if not" then the Inn must be destined to function 
in some other way that will be equally useful 
and important. The success of the Inn remains 
unchallenged for the spirit of a place founded 
on faith and love and a desire to serve, is not 
to be daunted by any phase of commercialism. 




XXIX 

DO I ADVISE WOMEN TO GO 
INTO BUSINESS? 

The most difficult question of all to answer 
is this, "Do you advise other women to go into 
business?" Was any one ever known to advise 
another to adopt the same occupation that he 
himself has followed? If one goes to a college 
professor for advice about entering the teach- 
ing profession he is sure to say "don't do it"; 
if a physician be consulted concerning his trade 
he will promptly reply, "Let the practice of 
medicine be the last thing you attempt"; while 
a merchant or business man will contend that 
a professional life offers the only hope of happi- 
ness on earth; the other fellow's occupation 
is always more alluring than one's own. 

An individual enterprise, however, whether 
it be professional or commercial, offers certain 
advantages; it gives play to originality and 
initiative, increases a sense of responsibility, 
and is likely to result in a greater mental and 
spiritual development ; it also insures a desirable 
degree of independence and security for no one 
person can "fire" the boss. But the boss may 
lose his business unless he systematically bosses 
himself and criticises his own policy and ability ; 
he must make comparisons, even though they be 
odious, with a high standard of attainment. 



100 



By conducting one's own business it may be 
possible to avoid the pain of working under 
another who does not know how to manage his 
affairs as well as some of his employees think 
they could do it for him; it is quite human for 
a person to feel at times that he can give valu- 
able pointers to those over him and it is often 
a matter of deep chagrin to find how little such 
suggestions are understood or appreciated; it 
is just this lack of an opportunity for self expres- 
sion that drives many a man to launch a busi- 
ness of his own whether he be fitted for it or not. 

But in spite of the advantages enumerated 
above that lend a subtle charm to a personal 
undertaking there are many hindrances to a 
woman's success, some of which seem to be 
purely inherent such as the over development 
of the economic instinct. Through the ages 
it has been woman's mission to conserve and 
utilize the spoils won by the man; he foraged 
and hunted while she prepared the game for 
her family and home; and in later years man 
earned the money while the thrifty wife managed 
the home and watched the savings. The modern 
woman who spends without thought is an ab- 
normal product of an age given to luxurious 
living. 

Because she is not used to taking chances, a 
woman in business may yield to the race instinct 
and be so occupied with petty savings that she 
will begrudge the outlay of funds that are abso- 
lutely necessary for the successful conduct of 
the business, or she may be so busy trying to 



101 



economize that she neglects to see opportuni- 
ties for progress and improvement. To be a 
financial success one must learn to think not 
in terms of pennies or dimes, but in hundreds 
and thousands, for as a man thinks so will it 
be. The peanut vender on the corner selling 
his wares for five cents a bag cannot become the 
wholesale dealer until he can think and act in 
thousands. 

My experiences with women have also proved 
that they are chary about entering into any 
employment that is binding for a great length 
of time, this attitude being due I suppose to 
the marrying instinct, consequently a business 
proposition does not appeal to the average 
woman. Being an old maid myself I am not 
sure that such precaution is not a mark of 
wisdom, especially until the old idea that a mar- 
ried woman must not work for money has been 
entirely eradicated from our social system. 
However, women who now seek positions are 
not nearly so apologetic as they used to be. I 
well remember one conversation that took place 
quite early in the history of the Inn. The gist 
of it is as follows: 

Applicant — I want you to understand that 
I am a perfect lady, I am not a working woman, 
I have always been taken care of (sheds tears). 

M. S. W. — Then why do you come here to 
ask for work? 

Applicant — Because I am in need of money. 

M. S. W. — How can you expect a position 
if you have never done any work? 



102 



Applicant — Oh, I have done house work. 

M. S. W— Anything else? 

Applicant — Oh, yes, I used to keep my 
husband's books. 

M. S. W— Anything else? 

Applicant — Sometimes I have earned a little 
money sewing for my friends. 

M. S. W. — Now we are getting along, what 
else can you do? 

Applicant — Once I nursed an old gentleman 
who was sick. 

M. S. W. — It seems to me you ought to have 
the honor of being called a working woman; 
when you can speak of all these things you have 
done, with pride instead of apologies, then you 
may hope to obtain a good position. 

This was an entirely new idea to Mrs. ap- 
plicant who had not realized the absurdity of 
apologizing to a working woman for wanting 
to work. This sort of self commiseration, I 
am thankful to say, is fast disappearing; no 
doubt the war is doing more than anything else 
to promote democracy among women, encourag- 
ing freedom in the choice of an occupation with- 
out fear of public opinion. 

I should certainly hesitate to advise women 
in general to go into business; it seems to me 
that it depends entirely upon the character of 
the individual who may be considering the sub- 
ject; if she has enough faith in her enterprise 
so that her vision is not impaired by stinting 
her investment, if she can sleep in the linen- 
closet when necessary, if she can endure social 



103 



ostracism and the loss of friends when public 
opinion is against her, if she can almost lose out 
and start again with only forty-seven cents to 
her credit, if she can experience all these things 
without bitterness, then I would say Yes in 
answer to the question. But if her plan is mere- 
ly a money making scheme devoid of ideals, 
if her respect for her work does not fortify her 
against all social and intellectual snobbishness, 
if she is lacking in faith or endurance, then I 
should say that such a woman is not fitted to 
establish anything original in the business world. 
Unless a woman has the spirit of the pioneer 
she should not attempt anything beyond the 
conservative occupations that lend prestige 
and afford an opportunity to earn a good salary. 




104 



XXX 

FAITH A MIRACLE WORKER 

This book has been written with the object 
of showing how much can be accomplished in 
spite of material limitations if one has a vision 
of things to come, and can pursue the vision 
with faith, determination, and self-sacrifice. 

A work that is entered into merely as a make- 
shift for earning a living can offer no guarantee 
of success, while a worthy motive such as "fill- 
ing a long felt want" seems to invite divine 
protection; the feeling that the work is im- 
portant demands respect from yourself and 
others; respect begets faith, and faith insures 
materialization. Having been led by some 
vision on a path of endeavor, do not give up, 
not even at the eleventh hour, nor the twenty- 
third hour, nor the twenty-third hour and fifty- 
ninth minute of the day of foreclosure; for help 
will surely come according to your prayers and 
your faith. 

To one who has survived some experience 
through which he has fought and bled, the fol- 
lowing questions are likely to present themselves : 
could my talents have been used to better ad- 
vantage in promoting some greater work? have 
I availed myself of the largeness of life offered 
by the undertaking? has it opened a vision of 
still greater things to come? 



105 



It is rather futile to look back upon one's 
past and express regret, for no matter how sordid 
it may seem, one never knows what the alterna- 
tive might have been; one can never say with 
any degree of certainty, If I had not done thus 
and so, I should have done so and so. No 
doubt we all feel at times that we might have 
risen to the heighth of an Abraham Lincoln 
or a Florence Nightingale if fate had not bound 
us to earth with irresistible ties of family, class 
prejudice, and mortal fear. It is the immortal 
within that speaks to us of such possibilities 
and convinces us that our life here is merely a 
training school for greater attainments when 
we shall have overcome these limiting influences 
in our development. 

It is true that certain events may bring out 
unexpected heroic qualities in almost any one, 
but the best that most of us can do is to look 
after the small things in a big way, so that we 
may not submit ourselves to the danger of being 
absorbed by them, but be prepared for the larger 
thing when it does come. Only by recogniz- 
ing the divine urge within, only by keeping our 
eyes on a vision of the eternal, can we hope for 
courage to follow the path of original effort, 
and so present at the end a life that is not entire- 
ly shorn of individuality — the greatest gift of 
God to man. 



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